Fertility Challenges
Are you struggling with infertility or pregnancy loss?
Is the process of trying to conceive not going as smooth as you hoped?
Are you needing support while you're in the thick of infertility treatment?
Does the reproductive trauma seem to take over your life these days?
Are you looking for a fertility counselor who just gets it?
We have therapists who specialize in different fertility issues as well as the grief and trauma that goes along with it. You deserve support as you go through this difficult journey.
Fertility Challenges
Difficulties around family building can have a significant impact on your mental health. Most of us come to trying for a baby thinking that soon enough we will fall pregnant and expand our family. But, at least 1 in 6 navigate infertility and 1 in 4 experience pregnancy loss. So, while experiencing fertility issues isn’t all that uncommon, it is spoken about so rarely.
Your focus on growing your family is important- and when you get hit with fertility issues, you feel it in big ways. Whether it be primary or secondary infertility, pregnancy loss, going through fertility treatment, or struggling with the process of trying to get pregnant before getting any fertility related diagnosis- you need support.
It is normal during this time to struggle with mental health, feel anxious, depressed, traumatized, disconnected from yourself, as well as disconnected from your partner or support system. This process can feel overwhelming, confusing, and isolating. We are here to help you hold space for it all and connect to the healing resources that you need.
How Infertility & Loss Impact Mental Health
While many go in to the process of trying to conceive feeling hopeful and excited, for many it can be a time of stress, grief, and trauma. Understandably, the goal of trying to grow your family can take center stage in your life. When that is not going as planned, it is normal to experience grief and trauma.
Even before you get an infertility diagnosis, the uncertainty the comes with failed cycle after failed cycle brings grief and emotional pain. For couples, it can feel like your relationship is focused on something that isn't going well- and together you may feel like you are at a loss.
Even once you can go in to get an infertility diagnosis, the testing process can feel vulnerable and grueling. Often, even when you do get answers, you may still feel overwhelmed with decisions around next steps for your family. And for those going through infertility treatments, the overwhelm with appointments, medications, hormone shifts, and roller coasters of hope and disappointment can have significant impacts on your mental health and relationships.
Some individuals or couples may also have sperm donors or embryo donation as a part of their treatment process. While this may be your best route for family building, it can be filled with conflicting emotions and experiences for some. There may be grief to process as you work to connect to feelings of hope.
Those who experience pregnancy loss or miscarriage may or may not be going through infertility as well. While the grief that you feel after a loss is real and significant, you may not feel that others in your life truly understand what you are going through. After a loss, you may struggle with the continued desire to grow your family while also feeling the fear of another loss or potential fertility issues.
The impact of infertility and pregnancy loss is significant. You may struggle with anxiety about what the future holds and depression about what is going on in your world. You may feel like you are in a world of uncertainty- wanting to move forward in life, but also feeling like life is on pause during this time. This experience may feel all consuming to you, while others in your life seem to be moving forwards without understanding your pain.
On top of that, the world of reproductive medicine can be confusing and overwhelming. Your medical professionals may be quickly moving through treatment while you are unsure of what the full process is. You may feel like you are putting life plans on hold over and over again for treatment cycles. And, you may feel disconnected in your partnership due to the focus on cycles and treatments.
Fertility issues can have a significant impact on your life and mental health, and you deserve support through this process. When you work with an infertility therapist, you get to have the support and understanding from someone who understands your process.
Fertility counseling can help you hold space for your story and your experience. While you may not have many spaces in life to truly process what you've gone through, in therapy your story matters. We will honor the grief, loss, uncertainty, overwhelm, and all of the other emotions that you may be experiencing.
As it makes sense that you may be struggling to cope during this process, we will also equip you with coping skills, tools for self-care, and communication skills so that you can not only hold space for yourself during this time- but also reach out for support from those who are there for you. This time can feel traumatic and can come with significant mental health impacts, so having support as well as coping skills can be essential for your fertility journey.
In fertility counseling, there is space for you to explore your treatment options without fear of judgement or someone else pushing you in any direction. Whether or not you decide to pursue infertility treatment, we will support the choices that you feel most connected to.
If you do go through fertility treatment, you'll get to process your experience with someone who gets it. We can help you to connect to different self-care practices to not only help you get through treatment cycles, but also feel connected to them. You deserve a trusted fertility counselor to be a part of your fertility team.
Infertility Counseling in Minnesota
We Offer a Special Connection Between Trauma Informed Care and Fertility Counseling
All of our therapists also specialize in trauma therapy- that means whoever you work with will understand how your challenges with fertility can feel traumatic. Not only will your journey in therapy help you navigate this difficult season of life, but it will also help you to process and heal the trauma you may be going through.
Healing these experiences of trauma helps best equip us for the next seasons of life. Whatever the future holds, you will have resources and tools to be present in your life and with yourself.
What Therapy for Infertility or Pregnancy Loss Looks Like at Minnesota Attachment Collective?
Work with a therapist specializing in fertility challenges
At Minnesota Attachment Collective, we have mental health professionals who not only specialize in this work- but also truly understand what it's like from their own lived experiences. We are aware of the process of getting a diagnosis of infertility, making decisions around infertility treatments, going through infertility treatment (including in vitro fertilization), as well as the process of going through a miscarriage.
You won't have to fully explain all of the different aspects of infertility, loss, or treatment options to us- as we are already well versed in the process. Your mental health professional not only understands these processes, but gets how heartbreaking, vulnerable, and scary they can be.
We will help you to process your experience
Your story matters to us. In counseling, we will help you hold space for your story. You get the time and space to process what has happened and what you are continuing to go through. We will honor the cycle of emotions of hope, connection, grief, trauma, uncertainty... all of it.
There is space to discuss your experience of infertility, pregnancy loss or miscarriage, as well as any fertility treatments you have gone through or are going through. In infertility counseling with us, not only will you be able to process your experience, but you will also get to heal from the trauma of it so that you can move forward in whatever choices are best for you and your family.
We will support you in gaining skills to help you through the process
We know that this process can feel traumatic. All of our therapists specialize and are trained in trauma therapies, so our approach is always trauma informed. We will go at a pace that supports you best, and help you to build the skills that you need to navigate this process. This can include coping skills, nervous system regulation skills, decision making skills, and communication skills.
If you are going through this process with a partner, couples therapy can be an added bonus. Our therapists are skilled at counseling couples on communication skills so that they can work through this process together- rather than feel disconnected during it. Learn more about our couples therapy here.
We will support you as you make decisions that are best for you
With us, you don't need to worry if our own personal decisions or biases will get in the way of supporting what works best for you. We are hear to help you evaluate your options, including treatment options, and make the choices that support your family best. Those choices may be choices that lead to family building, or they may be choices that support needs for breaks or discontinuing the process.
We know that a mix of emotions makes sense during this time. And while we will help you connect to feelings of hope in moments that hope would help you feel connected to the process- we will never push you into the realm of toxic positivity. We are here to support you- wherever you are at in the moment.
We are here to help.
We understand how challenging infertility and loss can be. We are here to help you hold space for your experience and connect to the healing that you need.
Individual Therapy
Work one-on-one with an infertility counselor. We can help you to hold space for and explore your experience, validate your emotions, and identify what choices you want to make along the way. Here, we can work to honor your experiences, grief, and true desires. We can support you in healing trauma as well as reconnect to a worthy sense of self for a future that is deserving of growth.
Couples Therapy
Fertility issues can understandably lead to disconnection in the relationship. In couples therapy, you can work to process your experience together, build communication and connection skills, and work on growing through this process in your relationship. Our fertility counselors are happy to educate couples not only on the process they are experiencing, but also on emotional and communication skills that can support the journey through infertility. Learn more about our approach to couples therapy here.
Other Supportive Specialties
Each mental health professional at Minnesota Attachment Collective have supportive specialties so that you get the best care needed for your fertility journey. As our practice specializes in trauma, your therapy will always be tended to through a trauma informed lens.
Our therapists can also support you through pregnancy and postpartum (as well as infant + toddler sleep support), fostering and adopting, or on a journey that does not include family building- whether it be continuing to be present as a parent with any children you do have or navigating a future without children. Our care is intended to support the long term needs of our clients, and we value the ongoing therapeutic relationship in the work that we do.
How We Can Help
Find Your Best Fit
Find a therapist that is a great fit for you! Each of our therapist have additional specialties in order to support you the best.
Support Through an Inclusive Lens
We want to make sure that you feel seen and heard, have space for healing, and are able to connect to yourself and your support system in meaningful ways. We know that families can be comprised in a number of different ways, and so we make sure that our care is welcoming to partnerships of all genders and sexual orientations, polyamorous partnerships, as well as single parent families.
Are you ready to hold space for healing? We would be honored to get to be a part of your process.
Let’s work together.
Get support through your experience of infertility, pregnancy loss, or fertility treatment today. For those located in the Twin Cities, we have in-person therapy sessions available in Burnsville. We also have virtual therapy sessions available to anyone who lives in Minnesota.